Day 1 Arrive in Saint-Jerome by car Best Western Hotel St. Jerome 420 Monseigneur-Dubois Boulevard Saint-Jerome, Quebec J7Y 3L8, Canada Phone: 450-438-1155 info@bwlaurentides.com Dinner in town of St Jerome. I ve marked a few places on the map. Breakfast at the hotel Must be at Office of Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord at 7:15am the following morning for the 8am bus to the top of the trail.
Day 2 *** If we re going to have breakfast starting at 7am at the Best Western, we ll want to have the car fully loaded before breakfast for the short drive over to Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord s office. So, let s figure on getting the bikes out of storage at 6:45am, loading my car (including all suitcases) and then being at breakfast at 7am sharp. Must be at Office of Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord at 7:15am 8am Bus from St Jerome to Mont-Laurier. Arrival in Mont- Laurier at 10:30-11am. Today we will bike up to Ferme-Neuve, a town approx. 12 miles north of Mont Laurier and then we ll come back to Mont-Laurier. If we didn t have breakfast in St Jerome, we ll probably want an early lunch in Mont Laurier before we go biking. I ve marked a few restaurants on the map in Mont Laurier. Some are more for dinner. One that looks like it would be good for lunch is called La Muffinerie Santé, a few blocks NW of the Comfort Inn. If we did have breakfast, we can have lunch in Ferme-Neuve. I ve marked one restaurant and one ice cream shop on the map in Ferme-Neuve. We ll take Rue de la Madone out of town until it runs into Route Eugene Trinquier. We will bike north on Route Eugene Trinquier, on the east side of the river and we ll come back on the west side of the river on Route 309. If Route 309 doesn t have a good shoulder, we ll bike back on Route Eugene Trinquier. (we ended up biking back on Route Eugene Trinquier in 2016).
Base Ride: 40K/25 Miles (round trip) After the bike ride, we will arrive at: Mont-Laurier Comfort Inn 700 Blvd. Paquette, Mont Laurier, QC, J9L 1L4 1-819-623-6465 information@comfortinn-ml.ca Dinner in town of Mont-Laurier Breakfast at the inn
Day 3 Today s ride takes us to Lac-Saguay. We ll come across the town of Val-Barrette relatively quickly. This may be the best lunch stop. Other towns we pass through appear to be less promising judging by the lack of businesses indicated on Google Maps. For a longer ride, there s quite a few roads that will go around a lake a bit off the Petit Train du Nord, but some of these roads don t loop around and you might end up biking back the way you went out. Base Ride: 38K/24 miles Lac-Saguay Motel Ours Bleu (Blue Bear) 19, Chemin de la Presqu'île, Lac-Saguay, QC, J0W 1L0 Hautes-Laurentides, Canada Free # within Canada 1-855-820-0813 Tél. 1-819-278-0813 Courriel: info@moteloursbleu.com *** This was one of the nicest places we stayed in 2016. They had kayaks provided free of charge to hotel guests and there s a small lake right there. Great if you get in early or after breakfast in the morning before you get going. Dinner and Breakfast five minute walk at le Restaurant du Lac Saguay 1-819-278-1117
Day 4 Today s ride takes us to Nominingue. This is a short ride. We ll arrive in Nominingue in time for lunch. Then we can bike around the lake after lunch and end up at the inn. Most of the road around the lake appears to be quiet. There is one place where we will have the choice of ending up on a main road and staying close to the lake or biking away from the lake to avoid the main road. We ll decide on this based on how scary the main road looks. We d only be on it for a ½ mile or mile. I ve marked the route for the main road and the alternative route with a bunch of red exclamation marks on the map (NE corner of Lac Nominingue). Also marked on the map as we make our way around the lake in a clockwise direction are a: beach park glass workshop all of which I know nothing about. Base Ride: 18K/11 Miles to town of Nominingue Approx 18 miles around the lake and back to the inn, so 29 miles for the whole ride. Nominingue Auberge Villa Bellerive 1-800-786-3802 1596 Chemin de Bellerive-sur-le-lac, Nominingue, Qc villabellerive@hotmail.com http://www.villabellerive.com/eng/index.html
Dinner at a restaurant a short drive from the inn (2km). The owner will drive us there and pick us up when we re done. (In fact he had nobody else to drive that night and lent us his minivan to take to dinner). Breakfast at the inn
Day 5 Today s ride takes us to Labelle, a very small town. On the way, and relatively early in the ride, we ll pass through the town of Rivière-Rouge, probably the best bet for lunch. I ve marked a few restaurants here on the map. Between Rivière-Rouge and Labelle there doesn t appear to be a whole lot. *** Get off the rail-trail and onto the main road (which is nice and wide here). Otherwise you ll end up bypassing the town completely. Once again, there s lots of lakes with roads leading to, and perhaps (and perhaps not) around, them. Base Ride: 39K/24 miles Boat Rental: http://www.kayak-cafe.com http://www.kayakbistro.ca Labelle Auberge/Restaurant La Gare Labelle 180, rue du Dépôt Labelle, QC J0T 1H0 1-819-686-3666 1-877-886-3666 lagare.info@bell.net *** This hotel does not have bathrooms in the rooms. They are in the hallway. Dinner can be, and probably will be at the inn because this is a very small town. Reservations for dinner can be made upon arrival. Breakfast at the inn Not included in the price of the room (I didn t catch the price in French over the phone). *** Dinner here was good. Breakfast was excellent.
Day 6 Today s ride takes us to Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré. We ll pass by the ski resort Mont-Tremblant and the town of St-Jovite. You may want to bike up to Mont-Tremblant and then take a chairlift to the top of the mountain. After that you could have lunch at the base of the mountain in the ski village or in the town of St Jovite. St Jovite appears to be the biggest town we ll encounter this week so figure you ll want some time to walk around before or after lunch. From St Jovite, a short bike ride will get you to the inn in the next town over. *** St Jovite was a very nice town, but when we got to the ski area it was very cloudy and did not seem worth the trouble of taking the chairlift to the top of the mountain. On the way from Mont- Tremblant into St Jovite we had lunch at Creperie Catherine, one of the best meals of the trip (on Rue Labelle, north of the town of St Jovite). Base Ride: 38K/24 miles An extra 3 miles each way to bike from the bike path up to the ski village and back, so a 30 mile ride altogether. Boat Rental at Mont-Tremblant (on map): http://tremblantnautique.com/centre-nautique-tremblant/ There s a garden to the east of Mont-Tremblant that may be of interest. It s indicated on the map. http://domainesaintbernard.org Another garden, this one to the south: http://www.jardindesrives.ca Saint-Faustin-Lac-Carré Gite de la Gare 362 rue de la Gare
St-Faustin-Lac-Carré J0T 1J1 Canada, Québec Tél : 819-688-6091 Sans frais : 1-888-550-6091 Courriel : info@gitedelagare.com Dinner at the Inn Breakfast at the Inn *** This inn only has two rooms. We booked them both and were the only people there for both dinner and breakfast. Dinner here was one of the best meals of the trip.
Day 7 Today s ride to Val-David is a relatively short ride. We ll be passing through the town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, a likely stop for lunch. Ste-Agathe is relatively close to Val-David. Probably we would ride to Ste-Agathe, eat lunch and then those wanting extra miles could do one or both of the alternative routes I have shown on the map before biking back to Val-David. Ste- Agathe appears to be a relatively large town and it may be worth spending some time there rather than biking extra or in addition to biking extra. *** On this day of biking, we got off the Petit Train du Nord and took the route to the south that goes around the lakes and then into Ste-Agathe. This route was very scenic and a nice change of pace from the rail-trail, but it was very hilly! *** Ste-Agathe-des-Monts is a very nice town. You may even decide you d rather spend the night there rather than Val-David (see below). For info on the town of Val-David, including outdoor concerts and festivals: http://valdavid.com For Lovers of Ceramics: http://www.1001pots.com Base Ride: 29K/18 miles Val-David Auberge Prema-Shanti 1005 Rue Du Tour-Du-Lac Val-David, QC J0T 2N0, Canada, Quebec www.premashanti.ca info@premashanti.ca 819-322-2345
Dinner at the Inn Breakfast at the Inn *** Auberge Prema-Shanti was a disappointment. I made a reservation (in French) and even received a confirmation for one room with two beds and one room with one bed and when we got there both rooms had one bed. They made it right by giving us a whole separate room, but they seemed very disorganized. The staff at reception told us breakfast was served starting at 8:30am (on a Saturday). When we got to breakfast the next morning we were told breakfast starts at 9am, which was both far later than I prefer when I m biking and, of course, not what we were told at reception. I would recommend a different hotel closer to town, or just a different town. Prema Shanti is outside of town in a very quiet neighborhood. There is nothing going on there and it was so dark it was not even comfortable to walk around the area after dinner. It was on a lake, which was nice, and we had lakefront rooms that opened to a patio overlooking the lake, but I still don t recommend this hotel.
Day 8 Today is the last day of biking. We will bike back to my car, which will be parked in the huge parking lot by Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord in St Jerome. Towns along the way that appear to be good stops for lunch are Sainte-Adèle and Saint-Sauveur. I ve marked on the map a few restaurants in each town. *** You will blow by these towns if you do not get off the rail-trail pathway. Arrive in Saint-Jerome by bike We ll want to be in St Jerome by 5pm to pick up our bags at the office of Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord. The earlier we arrive in St. Jerome, the earlier we can get in my car, drive to Montreal, take showers, do laundry and have dinner. So, perhaps a 3:30pm arrival in St. Jerome would be preferable. http://ville.sainte-adele.qc.ca Base Ride: 43K/27 miles Contact Info for Autobus Le Petit Train du Nord Téléphone:(450) 569-5596 Sans frais: 1-888-893-8356 Courriel: info@autobuslepetittraindunord.com Car to Montreal Check in to apartments Dinner in Montreal Also see: www.concertshautes-laurentides.com